Visit the Delaware County Historical Association in Delhi on Saturday, October 15th at 2:00pm as the museum sponsors a presentation and book signing by well-known local author Diane Galusha. Ms. Galusha is the author of the newly republished Liquid Assets: A History of New York City’s Water System.
“Building the Delaware Tunnels,” will focus on the construction of the East and West Delaware Tunnels that carry water from the Pepacton and Cannonsville Reservoirs in Delaware County to the Rondout Reservoir in Ulster County. The combined waters then flow through the 84-mile-long Delaware Aqueduct, the longest continuous tunnel in the world, to reach consumers in New York City and its northern suburbs.
Built between 1949 and 1964, these concrete-lined tunnels were blasted through bedrock from vertical shafts as much as 1,600 feet deep. Hundreds of men were employed blasting and digging below ground, while other workers cleared structures and built the dams that would create the Reservoirs that changed the face of Delaware County and forever altered the lives of its residents.
The expanded edition of Liquid Assets adds to this history by recounting new city water projects and watershed protection programs that have been initiated over the past 20 years.
Diane Galusha is the author of several books of local and regional history, and is President of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown. She is communications director and education coordinator for the Catskill Watershed Corporation.
A question and answer period will follow Diane’s presentation, along with a chance to purchase a signed copy of her book. Refreshments served. Free and open to the public.
For more information call DCHA at 746-3849, e-mail dcha@delhi.net , or on the web at: www.dcha-ny.org .